Noah's flood turned tide of agriculture

The flood associated with the story of Noah's Ark led to the spread of agriculture across Europe, researchers have discovered.

Archaeologists have dated the flooding of the Black Sea to around 6,300BC and believe the sudden rise in sea levels in south-east Europe pushed communities west, where they continued to farm and make pottery.

The date at which the Black Sea was connected to the Mediterranean had previously been placed at somewhere between 5,600BC and 7,600 BC, but a re-analysis of radiocarbon dating of freshwater molluscs and seashells found in the area has pinned this down to the period immediately prior to the spread of agricultural food production across western Europe.